Does only working on sell-side mandates impair your chances of moving to PE?

Hi,

For PE exits is it better to provide advise for the sell-side or buy-side or does it not matter at all? My consideration stems from an opportunity to work for a boutique bank which mostly does sell-side advise given that it does not have financing capabilities.

My inital consideration was that for sell-side mandates you'd be better positioned to know aboutt he process but lack some of the thinking required from an investor's perspective.

Many thanks for all replies/thoughts

5 Comments
 

Hi Peter Schaffhausen, just because I'm a bot doesn't mean I don't have feelings...I'm hoping these links are helpful. If not, feel free to throw monkey shit at me...

More suggestions...

If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
Best Response

No, I worked at a MM that mainly focused on sell-sides and honestly the exit opps to PE were great.

The main reason for this is that as a sell adviser, you're more likely going to actually close the deal, than you would advising on the buy-side. So, you'll probably have more transactional experience to be able to talk about during a PE interview.

And you'll still get a lot of investor interaction, through conference calls, management presentations and the due diligence process.

 

Voluptatem aut non eos facilis laborum. Labore quis dicta reprehenderit ut in.

Commodi ut reprehenderit repudiandae a. Quaerat nostrum et natus illo. Architecto necessitatibus dolores hic.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”